Reminders based on device presence

ABSTRACT

The disclosed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate and/or transmit reminders based upon device presence techniques in connection with a wireless communications network. For example, when certain mobile devices register with a particular network entity (e.g., a femtocell) that services a particular target location (e.g., place of residence), then such registration can be leveraged to indicate presence at the target location. Accordingly, reminders can be configured by custodian devices and delivered to subservient devices if certain predetermined conditions or criteria are satisfied in connection with the presence information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to wireless communicationsnetworks, and more specifically to utilizing device registration with anetwork entity such as a femtocell as an indication of presence.

BACKGROUND

Today millions of children world-wide are described as “latchkey” kids,a term deriving from the observation that when these children arrive athome, either from school or other endeavors, they will often do so to anempty house, and therefore, must carry a latchkey with them. In mostcases, parents of these children will be interested and relieved to knowtheir children arrived home safely. Unfortunately, due to otherobligations, such as work, those parents who cannot be at home to greettheir children also often are not even able to learn when their childrendo arrive home, which can lead to a great deal of anxiety.

As a result, parents and other caregivers are turning to advancingtechnologies to alleviate this dilemma. For example, global positioningsatellite (GPS) employs an array of satellites and other space-basedcomponents for navigation and other location-based services relying uponconcepts of trilateration to determine location. Accordingly, variousservices are currently available to track the location of suitabledevices (and, by proxy, the associated user) at a particular time orover time, which parents, caregivers, or other interested parties canemploy to, e.g., be apprised of the whereabouts of children.

Unfortunately, GPS-based systems also introduce a variety of undesirableissues. First, special-purpose equipment must be employed, which incursan added expense, both due to the equipment itself and the (oftenrecurring) GPS service charges, which can be quite substantial overtime. Second, children or other suitable parties must be encouraged toneither forget nor refuse to carry the GPS-based tracking device. Byintegrating GPS equipment into cell phones or other wireless devicesthat children are often quite willing to keep with them at all times,the second issue can be largely mitigated, yet the first one remains:added expense. Moreover, this issue is often greater than need be, aschildren or other parties who require suitable types of care, tend to bemore likely to lose, damage, or have stolen their mobile devices.

In addition, there are some market participants who believe GPS-basedtracking is far too invasive and contrary to many legitimate privacyconcerns of the parents, since such data can be potentially utilized inways not authorized by the parents and in a manner that can bepredictably damaging to both parents and children alike. Accordingly,what is needed is a way to give parents or other authorized partiespeace of mind, without relying upon GPS-based systems that can beprohibitively expensive and/or undesirable in terms of privacy concerns.

Moreover, parents often set various duties such as chores or homeworkthat parents would like to see pursued as soon as children arrive home.In other cases, children might have extracurricular activities thatbegin at specific times, of which the children are prone to forget. Inboth cases, parents often are not home to remind the children of theseduties or activities, yet reminders provided in the morning, a time atwhich parents and children might be together or in which the remindersare fresh in the parents mind, will likely be forgotten by the childrenby the time they arrive home in the afternoon.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosed subjectmatter in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of thedisclosed subject matter. This summary is not an extensive overview ofthe disclosed subject matter. It is intended to neither identify key orcritical elements of the disclosed subject matter nor delineate thescope of the disclosed subject matter. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the disclosed subject matter in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

The subject matter disclosed herein, in one aspect thereof, comprises awireless communications network architecture that can construct and/orfacilitate transmission of reminders based upon device presencetechniques. In accordance therewith and to other related ends, thearchitecture can include a presence component that can be configured toreceive and store presence information characterized by networkregistration of a subservient mobile device to a network entity (e.g., afemtocell) that services a target location such as a home.

Moreover, the architecture can also receive and log presence informationrelating to a lack of presence (e.g., absence) either throughregistration to a disparate network entity (e.g., network entity otherthan the femtocell at home) or in some cases de-registration from thenetwork entity.

Regardless, of the type of presence information in question, thearchitecture can also include a reminder component that can facilitatetransmission, either directly or via a disparate entity such as a shortmessage service (SMS) server, of a reminder based upon the presenceinformation. Further, the reminder component can be configured toreceive all or a portion of the reminder (e.g., some or all of the textassociated with the reminder) from a custodian device. Regardless, thereminder can be stored and accessed to determine whether the presenceinformation and/or additional predetermined conditions are satisfied.Upon satisfaction of the predetermined conditions, the remindercomponent can facilitate transmission of the reminder to the subservientmobile device. For example, the reminder component can be configured tosend the reminder once the presence of a particular device is detectedat home or if that device leaves home and so forth. Thus, delivery ofcertain messages can automatically be served to a target/destination atmore relevant times than a particular time in which the message wastransmitted by the source.

The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detailcertain illustrative aspects of the disclosed subject matter. Theseaspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways inwhich the principles of the disclosed subject matter may be employed andthe disclosed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects andtheir equivalents. Other advantages and distinguishing features of thedisclosed subject matter will become apparent from the followingdetailed description of the disclosed subject matter when considered inconjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system that can facilitate remindersbased upon device presence techniques in connection with a wirelesscommunications network.

FIG. 2 provides a block diagram of a system illustrating additionalfeatures or aspects of reminders based upon device presence.

FIG. 3 illustrates a graphic depiction of an interface for input and/orconfiguration of the set of predetermined conditions, the reminder text,or other related parameters.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system that can perform or aid withvarious determinations or inferences.

FIG. 5A illustrates a block diagram of a system in which all or aportion of the components described herein can be included in a corenetwork of the wireless communications network.

FIG. 5B depicts a block diagram of a system is configured such that allor a portion of the components described herein can be included in afemtocell or other network entity associated with the target location.

FIG. 5C illustrates a block diagram of a system in which all or aportion of the components described herein can be included in thesubservient mobile device.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary flow chart of procedures defining a methodfor creating reminders in a wireless communications network based upondevice presence information.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary flow chart of procedures that define a method forproviding additional features or aspects in connection with creatingreminders in a wireless communications network based upon devicepresence information.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary flow chart of procedures defining a methodfor providing additional features or aspects in connection configuringthe set of predetermined criteria or reminder text.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example wireless communication environment withassociated components that can enable operation of an enterprise networkin accordance with aspects described herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic deployment of a macro cell for wirelesscoverage in accordance with aspects of the subject specification.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an example embodiment of afemtocell access point.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a computer operable to execute aportion of the disclosed architecture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed subject matter is now described with reference to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to likeelements throughout. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the disclosed subject matter. It may beevident, however, that the disclosed subject matter may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order tofacilitate describing the disclosed subject matter.

As used in this application, the terms “system,” “component,”“interface,” and the like are generally intended to refer to acomputer-related entity or an entity related to an operational machinewith one or more specific functionalities. The entities disclosed hereincan be either hardware, a combination of hardware and software,software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, butis not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor,an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or acomputer. By way of illustration, both an application running on aserver and the server can be a component. One or more components mayreside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component maybe localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers. These components also can execute from various computerreadable storage media having various data structures stored thereon.The components may communicate via local and/or remote processes such asin accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., datafrom one component interacting with another component in a local system,distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet withother systems via the signal). As another example, a component can be anapparatus with specific functionality provided by mechanical partsoperated by electric or electronic circuitry that is operated bysoftware or firmware application(s) executed by a processor, wherein theprocessor can be internal or external to the apparatus and executes atleast a part of the software or firmware application. As yet anotherexample, a component can be an apparatus that provides specificfunctionality through electronic components without mechanical parts,the electronic components can include a processor therein to executesoftware or firmware that confers at least in part the functionality ofthe electronic components. An interface can include input/output (I/O)components as well as associated processor, application, and/or APIcomponents.

Furthermore, the disclosed subject matter may be implemented as amethod, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programmingand/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware,or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement thedisclosed subject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as usedherein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from by acomputing device.

Computing devices typically include a variety of media, which caninclude computer-readable storage media and/or communications media,which two terms are used herein differently from one another as follows.Computer-readable storage media can be any available storage media thatcan be accessed by the computer and includes both volatile andnonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example,and not limitation, computer-readable storage media can be implementedin connection with any method or technology for storage of informationsuch as computer-readable instructions, program modules, structureddata, or unstructured data. Computer-readable storage media can include,but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical diskstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or other tangible and/or non-transitorymedia which can be used to store desired information. Computer-readablestorage media can be accessed by one or more local or remote computingdevices, e.g., via access requests, queries or other data retrievalprotocols, for a variety of operations with respect to the informationstored by the medium.

On the other hand, communications media typically embodycomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother structured or unstructured data in a data signal such as amodulated data signal, e.g., a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and includes any information delivery or transport media. Theterm “modulated data signal” or signals refers to a signal that has oneor more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as toencode information in one or more signals. By way of example, and notlimitation, communication media include wired media, such as a wirednetwork or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic,RF, infrared and other wireless media

As used herein, the terms “infer” or “inference” generally refer to theprocess of reasoning about or inferring states of the system,environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured viaevents and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specificcontext or action, or can generate a probability distribution overstates, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is, thecomputation of a probability distribution over states of interest basedon a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer totechniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set ofevents and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of newevents or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored eventdata, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporalproximity, and whether the events and data come from one or severalevent and data sources.

Further, terms like “user equipment,” “mobile device,” “mobile,”“subscriber station,” “access terminal,” “terminal,” “handset,” andsimilar terminology, generally refer to a wireless device utilized by asubscriber or user of a wireless communication service to receive orconvey data, control, voice, video, sound, gaming, or substantially anydata-stream or signaling-stream. The foregoing terms are utilizedinterchangeably in the subject specification and related drawings.Likewise, the terms “access point,” “base station,” “cell site,” “NodeB,” “evolved Node B” and other outdoor environment devices, can beutilized interchangeably in the subject application. Similarly, termssuch as “femtocell”, “femto,” “home Node B”, “micro cell” and otherindoor environment devices can be used interchangeably as well. Ineither outdoor or indoor cases, such devices can refer to a wirelessnetwork component or appliance that serves and receives data, control,voice, video, sound, gaming, or substantially any data-stream orsignaling-stream from a set of subscriber mobile devices. Data andsignaling streams can be packetized or frame-based flows. It is notedthat in the subject specification and drawings, context or explicitdistinction provides differentiation with respect to access points orbase stations that serve and receive data from a mobile device in anoutdoor environment, and access points or base stations that operate ina confined, primarily indoor environment overlaid in an outdoor coveragearea.

Furthermore, the terms “user,” “subscriber,” “customer,” “consumer,” andthe like are employed interchangeably throughout the subjectspecification, unless context warrants particular distinction(s) amongthe terms. It should be appreciated that such terms can refer to humanentities, associated devices, or automated components supported throughartificial intelligence (e.g., a capacity to make inference based oncomplex mathematical formalisms) which can provide simulated vision,sound recognition and so forth. In addition, the terms “wirelessnetwork,” “communications network,” “network” and the like are usedinterchangeable in the subject application, when context for any ofthese term utilized warrants distinction for clarity purposes suchdistinction is made explicit.

Moreover, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as anexample, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design describedherein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the wordexemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As usedin this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or”rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, orclear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of thenatural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; orX employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under anyof the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” asused in this application and the appended claims should generally beconstrued to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear fromcontext to be directed to a singular form.

Referring now to the drawing, with reference initially to FIG. 1, system100 that can facilitate reminders based upon device presence techniquesin connection with a wireless communications network is depicted. Forexample, by relying upon device presence techniques rather thantrilateration techniques as is employed with global positioningsatellite (GPS) and many other location-based services, little or nospecial purpose equipment or computation need be necessary fordetermining presence. Hence, the subject matter disclosed herein can beat once less expensive for end-users and less invasive in terms ofcertain privacy concerns. Moreover, because reminders can be providedbased upon presence, such reminders can be orchestrated to arrive atmore relevant times rather than at the time of transmission/input.

Generally, system 100 can include presence component 102 that can beconfigured to receive and store presence information 104. Presenceinformation 104 can be characterized by network registration ofsubservient mobile device 106 to network entity 108 that services targetlocation 110. Put another way, when subservient mobile device 106 enters(or leaves) an area of service (e.g., target location 110) covered bynetwork entity 108, then network entity 108 can “sense” such and provideappropriate information (e.g., presence information 104) to presencecomponent 102 as a result. In this case, “sensing” the presence ofsubservient mobile device 106 can be established when subservient mobiledevice 106 registers with network entity 108 in order to utilize networkentity 108 as a communications portal to a core network of the wirelesscommunications network. As a result, in one or more aspect, presenceinformation 104 does not include GPS data, but rather relies on devicepresence data.

Thus, network entity 108 is intended to be a suitable wirelesscommunications network component, typically a terrestrial-basedcomponent, that can provide wireless communications network services ina substantially fixed geographic area (e.g., target location 110), andthat allows or requires devices to register in order to utilize theservices provided while in the area of service. Such can be exemplifiedby FIG. 2, which can be now referenced in conjunction with FIG. 1. FIG.2 depicts system 200 illustrating additional features or aspects ofreminders based upon device presence techniques. For example, in one ormore aspect, network entity 108 can be femtocell 202 sometimes referredto as a micro cell or home Node B (HNB). Additionally or alternatively,network entity 108 can be wireless fidelity (WI-FI) router 206; or amacro cell or base station 204 included therein. Hence, while it shouldbe understood network entity need not be limited to any one type ofsuitable network component, in the reminder of this document it isgenerally assumed that network entity 108 is a femtocell unlessspecified otherwise.

In general, femtocells (e.g., femtocell 202) are designed for indoorenvironments such as a home or office. Femtocells typically utilize abroadband router to carry packet-based voice and/or data to the corenetwork of the wireless communications network via a broadbandconnection to the Internet such as digital subscriber line (DSL) or acable modem. Thus, femtocells can provide a strong signal and robustservices in environments that traditionally offer only poor coverage,such as that commonly experienced behind the walls of a building.Additional detail, aspects or example embodiments relating tofemtocells, network entity 108, and/or other components that can beincluded in the wireless communications network are provided inconnection with FIGS. 9-11. Moreover, it should be appreciated that,given femtocells are designed for in-home coverage, a device typicallymust be at home in order to register with a femtocell, and thus employthe services thereby provided, which is an indication of presence.

As such, the disclosed subject matter can leverage these and otherrelated features to obtain presence information 104, which can in turnbe leveraged to provide valuable reminders which can be configured toleverage presence information 104. For example, when subservient mobiledevice 106 registers with femtocell 202 (e.g., network entity 108)servicing the residential home, then it can be presumed the operator ofsubservient mobile device 106 is at home, hence establishing a degree ofpresence. As previously noted such information can be received andstored by presence component 102. As one example, presence component 102can store presence information 104 to data store 118. As used herein,data store 118 is intended to be a repository of all or portions ofdata, data sets, or information described herein or otherwise suitablefor use with the described subject matter. Data store 118 can becentralized, either remotely or locally cached, or distributed,potentially across multiple devices and/or schemas. Furthermore, datastore 118 can be embodied as substantially any type of memory, includingbut not limited to volatile or non-volatile, sequential access,structured access, or random access, solid state, and so on. It shouldbe understood that all or portions of data store 118 can be included insystems 100, or can reside in part or entirely remotely from systems100.

In accordance therewith, system 100 can also include reminder component112 that can be an application included in a computer-readable storagemedium, in execution by a processor, or the like. Reminder component 112can facilitate transmission of reminder 114 to subservient mobile device106. In one or more aspect, reminder component 112 can be furtherconfigured to receive at least a portion of reminder 114 from acustodian device 116 ₁-116 _(N), where N can be any substantiallypositive integer. It should be understood that custodian device(s) 116₁-116 _(N) can be referred to herein, either collectively orindividually as custodian device(s) 116, with appropriate subscriptsemployed generally only when necessary or convenient to highlightvarious distinctions or to better impart the disclosed concepts.Regardless, it should be apparent that reminder component 102 can befurther configured to store the at least a portion of the reminder 114in the event the set of predetermined conditions is determined to besatisfied.

Put another way, while reminder 114 can be delivered to subservientmobile device 106 upon arrival of subservient mobile device 106 attarget location 110, it is not necessary that reminder 114 beconstructed or even transmitted at the same time. Rather, reminder 114can be previously input by custodian device 116, buffered in storageuntil the appropriate presence-based event (e.g., arriving at targetlocation 110), and then and only then provided to subservient mobiledevice 106.

As one concrete example, consider the case in which both parents (e.g.,“mom” and “dad”) work late into the evening on most days, while theirtwo children (e.g., “Ashley” and “Billy”) typically arrive home (e.g.,target location 110) from school by late afternoon. Further assuming theparents subscribe to femtocell service (or some other suitable service),when either Ashley or Billy arrive home, their individual handsets(e.g., subservient mobile devices 106) will cease their open airinterface to a local Node B/base station (e.g., base station 204) of aparticular macro cell, and instead register with their householdfemtocell 202 (e.g., network entity 108). When such occurs, presenceinformation 104 can be delivered to presence component 102. As a result,reminder component 112 can facilitate transmission of reminder 114 toone or both of Ashley's or Billy's devices (e.g., subservient mobiledevice(s) 106). For instance, reminder 114 can be delivered to bothdevices, indicating e.g., “Welcome Home. Love Mom and Dad.” As anotherexample, upon arriving home Ashley's device can receive reminder 114indicating, “Don't forget to feed the dog now that you are home” whereasBilly's device can receive reminder 114 indicating, “You need to studyfor your math exam tomorrow.” Appreciably, as with all reminders 114, aconvenient link or other object can be embedded in reminder 114,allowing all such reminders 114 to be equipped with a reply option oranother suitable response action or acknowledgment (e.g., notification120). For example, suppose upon her arrival at home, Ashley receives theaforementioned reminder 114 indicating she needs to feed and water herdog, or some other scheduled chore. In that case, reminder 114 can beconfigured to include a request for notification 120 or notification 120can be based upon an embedded link. Regardless, upon completing thechore or task mentioned in reminder 114, notification 120 can be inputor automatically constructed and delivered back to mom, indicating,e.g., “dog has been fed” or “chores completed”.

It should be appreciated that reminder 114 will typically be transmittedby way of short message service (SMS). Yet, in this case mom (or dad)can input the desired message (e.g., reminder 114) in the morning (e.g.,from custodian device 116) while the message is fresh in her mind.However, Ashley and Billy typically will not receive reminder 114 untila more appropriate time, given to receive reminder 114 in the morning atthe time it was input will not be as effective as receiving reminder 114upon arriving at home (e.g., target location 110), given the messageimparted by reminder 114 can be readily forgotten in between the time itwas input and the time it can be feasibly acted upon. It should befurther appreciated that since Ashley and/or Billy typically onlyreceive reminder 114 in the event that a certain set of predeterminedconditions or criteria are satisfied, this is a very simple case. Forexample, the set of conditions in this case can be, e.g., “send thereminder when Ashley and Billy arrive home from school” (e.g., reminder114 upon first arrival at home any time after 3:30 pm, the normal timein which school lets out, during weekdays). Additional detail inconnection with the set of predetermined conditions and/or configurationthereof is provided with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

While still referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it should be understood thatreminder 114 (or a portion thereof) can be input by custodian device 116in a variety of ways. As one example, reminder 114 can be formatted anddelivered to reminder component 112 according to short message service(SMS) 208. As another example, reminder 114 can be delivered accordingto an email protocol, e.g., by way of email service 210. Of course,other methods of receiving reminder 114 from custodian device 116 canexist, which can be provided to reminder component 112 either directly(e.g., FIG. 1) or via another message service or device 212 (e.g., FIG.2). For example, in a simple case, mom can input the desired message asan SMS text, and transmit it to a special number that is configured tobe routed to Ashley upon her arrival at home, as opposed to the normalnumber in which case Ashley would receive the SMS text immediately. Inmore complex cases, the set of predetermined conditions can be highlyconfigurable, and can be accessed, e.g., through a web interface.

Thus, it should be readily apparent that while custodian device 116 (andsubservient device 106) can be a mobile device such as a cellular phone,smart phone, personal digital assistant, laptop, netbook, or the like,custodian device 116 need not be a mobile device, but rather can also bean ordinary desktop computer, or substantially any device that canaccess a particular messaging service and/or email account.

It should be further appreciated that there need not be any physicaldistinction between subservient mobile device 106 and any suitableconventional mobile device or that of mobile devices that act ascustodian devices 116. Rather, subservient mobile devices 106 can besubstantially identical in terms of hardware etc. (and need not, butcan, utilize GPS components, yet any such use would not be necessary toestablish presence information 104). Thus, the term “subservient” doesnot necessarily reflect any lesser state of subservient device 106, butis employed as an identifier indicating devices whose presence areintended to monitored. For instance, femtocell service subscriberstypically must set up a list of authorized users (e.g., the devices thatare authorized to employ the wireless communications network viafemtocell 202). In the process of creating the list of authorized users,the femtocell service subscriber can choose which phones are to be“subservient” (e.g., subject to presence info collection such as Ashleyand Billy) and, optionally, which are to be “custodian” (e.g., likely tobe recipients of various reminders 114 relating to presence of thesubservient devices 106). Appreciably, custodian devices 116 need notnecessarily be on the authorized user list, but subservient mobiledevices 106 typically will in order to allow for registration withfemtocell 202 as subservient mobile devices 106 arrive at targetlocation 110 (e.g., home).

Accordingly, in one or more aspects, reminder component 112 can befurther configured to facilitate transmission of reminder 114 tosubservient mobile device 106 upon arrival of subservient mobile device106 at target location 110 as determined by network registration ofsubservient mobile device 106 to femtocell 202 servicing target location110. For example, such aspects were detailed supra in connection withthe example scenario in which Ashley and/or Billy were notified ofvarious items upon arrival at home from school.

However, it should be appreciated that in one or more aspect, remindercomponent 112 can be further configured to facilitate transmission ofreminder 114 to subservient mobile device 106 upon departure ofsubservient mobile device 106 from target location 110. Such can beaccomplished in a variety of ways. For example, reminder component 112can facilitate the associated reminder 112 based upon networkregistration of subservient mobile device 106 to a different networkentity 108 (e.g., different than femtocell 202 that was registered whenAshley arrived home from school, indicating Ashley's presence is nolonger at home and/or not within the coverage area of femtocell 202),such as base station 204, WI-FI router 206, or a disparate femtocell 202(e.g., a friend's or neighbor's femtocell 202). As a second example,reminder component 112 can facilitate the associated reminder 112 basedupon network de-registration of subservient mobile device 106 fromfemtocell 202 servicing target location 110. In any case, an examplesuitable reminder 114 can be, e.g., “Don't forget to lock the doors.”

Typically, in the case of predetermined conditions relating to absenceor lack of presence (e.g., leaving as opposed to arriving at targetlocation 110), registration with a disparate network entity 108 isgenerally preferred over de-registration, since powering downsubservient mobile device 106 can in some cases result in such ade-registration, even though subservient mobile device 106 did notnecessarily depart from target location 110, but merely from thewireless communications network and/or the network entity 108 servicingtarget location 110. By way of further illustration, resuming the commonscenarios used herein, while Ashley can still receive reminder 114 whenshe arrives at home (e.g., a first set of predetermined conditions)indicating that she needs to feed the dog, a second set of predeterminedconditions can, when satisfied, result in a second reminder 114 beingdelivered to Ashley, such as when Ashley leaves the house after gettinghome from school, such as an indication to lock the doors.

With reference now to FIG. 3, interface 300 for input and/orconfiguration of the set of predetermined conditions, the reminder text,or other associated parameters is provided. It should be appreciatedthat both interface 300 as well as any particular set of predeterminedconditions/criteria 302 discussed herein is intended to be forillustrative purposes, and therefore is not necessarily intended to belimiting. For example, interface 300 can include multiplesub-interfaces, as well as any combination of interface objects such asinput boxes, drop-down menus, radio buttons, check-boxes, dialog boxes,menu bars, widgets, confabulators, and so forth. Appreciably, the abovecan differ based upon differing applications and/or form factorsutilized to provide and/or access interface 300.

Typically, access to interface 300 will be limited to authorized membersof a particular service provision, such as a service provision relatingto the wireless communications network, or particularly to a femtocellservice provision thereof. Thus, drawing again from the examplescenarios introduced above, mom or dad (who ostensibly pay for and haveagreed to the associated service contract) can be authorized parties toaccess and/or configure suitable sets of predetermined conditions 302 orother relevant data, whereas Ashley and Billy, will likely not beauthorized to access interface 300 and/or configure various sets ofpredetermined conditions 302. Rather, Ashley and Billy (or moreprecisely associated wireless devices thereof) will likely be set assubservient mobile devices 106, as further detailed infra. However, itshould be appreciated, e.g., when a custodian party authorizes such,subservient mobile device 106 can be given access to all or a portion ofinterface 300. For example, Ashley might want to set her own set ofreminders 114 for her own personal use as a means of remembering variousactivities or events.

In one or more aspect, some of which have been previously introduced,set of predetermined conditions 302 can relate to at least one ofpresence or absence of subservient mobile device 106 at target location110; presence or absence of subservient mobile device 106 at targetlocation 110 that occurs (1) at a certain time, (2) during a certainperiod of time, or (3) in connection with a state of target location110; departure or lack of departure of subservient mobile device 106from the target location 110; or departure or lack of departure ofsubservient mobile device 106 from target location 110 that occurs (4)at a certain time, (5) within a certain period of time, or (6) inconnection with a state of target location 110.

In addition, in one or more aspects, set of predetermined conditions 302can be configurable based upon input from at least one of a user or anauthorized user of the at least one mobile device, a user or anauthorized user of the subservient mobile device, a subscriber tofemtocell service at the target location, or an agent of the wirelesscommunications network.

By way of example, interface 300 can enable an authorized user (e.g.,mom, dad, or in some cases Ashley or Billy) to select a target addressas illustrated at reference numeral 304. In this exemplary case, suchcan be accomplished by way of a drop-down menu. The drop-down menu canbe initially populated with all or a portion of the authorized users offemtocell 202, yet in any event an option can be provided to “adddevice(s)”, wherein suitable identifying information can be input, aswell as an option (not shown) to delete previously saved selections. Anydata entered here (as well as other portions described herein) can bestored for later access or recall and can be employed to automaticallypopulate an authorized user list (e.g., of femtocell 202). Moreover,subservient mobile device 106 can be selected by actual name of thedevice operator (e.g., Ashley), or based upon some other identifyingcriteria depending upon the implementation, such as, e.g., a phonenumber, reference ID, username or the like. Although not expresslydepicted, similar features can be provided with other portions of theinterface as well. In addition, each device operator (e.g., Ashley) canbe selected based upon the type of presence information 104 desired tobe leveraged. For example, a different number or ID can be referenceddepending upon whether it is desired that subservient mobile device 106receives reminder 114 in connection with arriving at home (or anothertarget location 110) or in connection with departing from home (oranother target location 110), which can be selected based uponappropriate indicators, such as illustrated here, “Ashley arrives”,“Ashley leaves” (or similarly “Billy arrives” or “Billy leaves”).

Furthermore, interface 300 can include a sub-interface or other means(e.g., reference numeral 306) for selecting a location (e.g., targetlocation 110) in which presence data is to be monitored. Here anotherdrop-down menu is illustrated, listing by way of example, “home” (e.g.,femtocell 202 associated with the residence of mom and dad), “auntsally's” (e.g., femtocell 202 associated with the residence of Sally,Ashley and Billy's aunt), the same for a friendly neighbor, babysitter,and dad's office, which also utilizes a femtocell or other suitablenetwork entity 108, and a selection that can be employed to add a newlocation. It should be appreciated that as a general rule, in order toselect target locations 110 relating to aunt sally's or the neighbor orbabysitter, subservient mobile device 106 will need to be on anauthorized user list associated with the network entity 108 utilized atthat location (e.g., Ashley must be allowed to connect to the networkwith her device via resident network equipment, e.g., femtocell 202).

By way of illustration, interface 300 can be configured such that whenAshley arrives at aunt Sally's, Ashley's mobile device can receive atext message (e.g., reminder 114) indicating, e.g., “Don't forget tobring home the casserole dish we left there after dinner last week.”Such can be configured by mom, but might also be configured by Ashleyherself, since her mom told her to get the dish and she knows she'll bevisiting aunt Sally the next day.

Next to be described, at reference numeral 308, interface 300 canprovide for input of all or a portion of reminder 114. Variousnon-limiting examples are illustrated, which can be transmitted tosubservient mobile device 106 upon satisfaction of suitable associatedset of predetermined conditions 302. Likewise, interface 300 can alsoprovide an option for time-based criteria 310 of conditions 302. Forexample, in contrast to the initial scenario in which Ashley receives areminder when she arrives home after school, mom could alternatively (orin addition to, e.g., with a second set of conditions 302) configureconditions 302 to generate the reminder not only based upon thecondition that Ashley's presence is detected at home, but further thatsuch presence is established or still occurring at a particular time.

Thus, consider the case in which Ashley has soccer practice everyMonday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:00 pm. Generally Ashley arrives homefrom school a little before 4:00 pm, therefore mom wants reminder 114delayed beyond the time in which Ashley arrives home, since she mightforget in the meantime, and instead delivered at 4:30 pm, the timecloser to when she must leave home. Moreover, on certain days, due tohomework assignments or other endeavors, Ashley goes directly to soccerpractice after school, in which case it is not necessary to sendreminder 114. Thus, the set of predetermined conditions 302 in this casecan be distilled to (1) Ashley's presence at home and (2) it is 4:30 pm,both of which must be satisfied to trigger reminder 114 indicating,e.g., “Soccer practice at 5:00 pm.”. Therefore, Ashley can receivereminder 114 when it is more relevant (e.g., when she is at home at 4:30pm), yet not be bothered with the reminder when it might not be relevant(e.g., when she is already at the soccer practice field). In addition,box 310 (as well as other sections of interface 300) can also include a“Script” button in which scripts for more complex conditions 302, orconditions otherwise not available by default or ready selection.

In accordance therewith, it should be readily apparent that multiplesets of conditions can be generated and appropriately named, e.g., uponselection of the save button 316. For example, in accordance with theabove-mentioned scenarios, “Welcome Home” can be a first saved templateof conditions 302, while “Chore Reminder” can be a second set ofconditions 302, while “Lock the doors behind you” can be yet another setof conditions 302 that can be saved and selected to apply and/or beactivated at any time according to preference, desires, orcircumstances.

Likewise, interface 300 can also include a means for selecting afrequency or duration of conditions 302, as exemplified by referencenumeral 312. For example, apply the configured conditions 302 on a dailybasis, on weekdays, weekends, just once or today only, or for the nexttwo weeks only, while mom and dad are on holiday, and so on. Inaddition, various other conditions 302 can be selected or created, whichcan include conditions 302 that relate to a status or state of targetlocation 110, which is illustrated in connection with reference numeral314.

For example, other femtocell services as well as third party devices orservices can be leveraged to identify or query various status- orstate-based parameters in connection with one's home, such as thermostatreadings, the state of locking mechanisms for various doors, and soforth. Thus, a given set of conditions 302 can be constructed tofacilitate transmission of reminder 114 when Ashley arrives at home (ordeparts from home) and when she forgot to lock the door behindher—accordingly, Ashley need not receive reminder 114, say, if the doorsare already locked. As another example, a given set of conditions 302can be constructed to facilitate transmission of reminder 114 whenAshley arrives at home and when the babysitter is not present (e.g.,babysitter's mobile device has not registered with the femtocell atmom's home). Accordingly, Ashley might receive reminder 114 to “callaunt Sally if sitter not there by 4:30 pm” or the babysitter mightreceive reminder 114 indication, e.g., “Where are you? Supposed to bewatching Ashley.” As a third provided example, a given set of conditions302 can be constructed to facilitate transmission of reminder 114 whenAshley departs from home during weather warnings or bad weatherforecasts in the area of target location 110 (e.g., obtained from athird party service) or when arriving home in such conditions, e.g.,“Weather too bad, no soccer practice tonight.”

Furthermore, in one or more aspects, reminder component 112 can befurther configured to export or import all or a portion of set ofconditions 302 to or from a record associated with a second subservientmobile device 106. For instance, if mom sets up a first set ofconditions 302 that apply to Ashley's mobile device (based uponselection of a number or ID associated with Ashley in box 302), thatrecord can be imported to apply the same (or quickly updateable)conditions 302 to Billy's mobile device. Such can be provided by way ofexport 318 or import 320 features that can be included in interface 300.In addition, reminder component 112 can be further configured to exportor import all or a portion of set of conditions 302 to or from adisparate account or wireless communications service provision. Forexample, suppose mom sets up a number of sets of conditions 302 relatingto both Ashley and Billy, which she uses quite often. However, momintends to take a vacation for the next two weeks, during which timeAshley and Billy will be staying with aunt Sally.

Mom would like aunt Ashley and Billy to receive all the same reminder114, yet rather than requiring aunt Sally to repeat all the samecondition 302 setup procedures, mom can export the saved template(s),and aunt Sally can import them, such that all relevant conditions 302and other aspects that previously applied to the old target location 110(e.g., home), can now apply to the new target location 110 (e.g., auntSally's home).

Moreover, in one or more aspects, reminder component 112 can be furtherconfigured to facilitate download and/or access to all or a portion ofstored presence information 104. For example, mom might generally onlybe interested in sending reminders 114 based upon input conditions 302.However, the situation might arise in which mom would be interested inknowing additional information relating to Ashley's presence, even whensuch does not trigger a reminder. In such cases, presence history can beaccessed by authorized parties (e.g., mom or dad) by way of presencehistory option 322. In some aspects, however, presence information 104can be kept only for a short amount of time, or be deleted immediatelyafter any such data is employed in determined whether or not to providereminder 114, both of which can be utilized to, e.g., to provide anadditional layer of privacy. Further still, in addition to what has beendescribed above, interface 300 can also allow for importing a wide rangeof default or preconfigured sets of conditions 302, e.g., ready-madetemplates provided by the host wireless communications network.Additionally or alternatively, in some cases, e.g., when selected by anauthorized party, various conditions 302 can be intelligently determinedor inferred, which is further discussed in connection with FIG. 4.

Now turning to FIG. 4, system 400 that can perform or aid with variousdeterminations or inferences is illustrated. Generally, system 400 caninclude reminder component 112 that can facilitate transmission ofreminder 114 to one or more custodian device 116 when presenceinformation 104 satisfies set of predetermined conditions 302, assubstantially described above. In addition to what has been described,components described herein can make intelligent determinations orinferences. For example, Bayesian probabilities or confidence measurescan be employed or inferences can be based upon machine learningtechniques related to historical analysis, feedback, and/or previousdeterminations or inferences.

For instance, reminder component 112 can intelligently determine orinfer a suitable set of predetermined conditions 302 as well as anappropriate reminder 114 associated with the set of predeterminedconditions 302 that are inferred or notification 120 associated withreminder 114. Such an intelligent determination or inference can bebased upon, e.g., presence information 104 that is exceptional orotherwise deviates from a norm. As one example, consider the scenariodescribed above in which Ashley's school lets out at 3:30 pm onweekdays, and in which Ashley typically arrives home a few minutesbefore 4:00 pm, as evidenced by a history of presence information 104describing registration to the home femtocell 202. Further suppose thatmom wants Ashley to receive a “Welcome home” message upon her arrivalhome, so mom has configured set of predetermined conditions 302appropriately. However, consider the case in which on one particularday, Ashley arrives home at 2:00 pm. Such would generally indicate anunusual event, such as school closing, illness, truancy, or the like.Thus, reminder component 112 can intelligently infer that mom wouldlikely desire a different type of message instead. For example, remindertext that recites, “Why are you home early? Call me to explain.”Accordingly, reminder component 112 can construct suitable predeterminedconditions 302 and facilitate transmission of the associated reminder114 to Ashley immediately. In addition, reminder 114 can include a linkalong with the anchor text of “Call me” such that upon selecting thelink, Ashley's phone automatically dials mom or automatically loads amessaging service to reply (e.g., notification 120). As another example,consider the case in which Ashley receives a “Welcome Home” message asreminder 114, as previously discussed. In that case, reminder component112 can intelligently determine or infer to transmit to mom notification120 indicating, e.g., “Ashley arrived home and received your text todayat 3:51 pm.”

In addition, system 400 can also include intelligence component 402 thatcan provide for or aid in various inferences or determinations. Inparticular, in accordance with or in addition to what has been describedsupra with respect to intelligent determinations or inferences providedby various components described herein, e.g., all or portions ofreminder component 112. Additionally or alternatively, all or portionsof intelligence component 402 can be included in one or more componentsdescribed herein. Thus, intelligence component 402 can reside in wholeor in part within system 100 or within components described therein.Moreover, intelligence component 402 will typically have access to allor portions of data sets described herein, such as data store 118.

In more detail, in order to provide for or aid in the numerousinferences described herein, intelligence component 402 can examine theentirety or a subset of the data available and can provide for reasoningabout or infer states of the system, environment, and/or user from a setof observations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can beemployed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate aprobability distribution over states, for example. The inference can beprobabilistic—that is, the computation of a probability distributionover states of interest based on a consideration of data and events.Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composinghigher-level events from a set of events and/or data.

Such inference can result in the construction of new events or actionsfrom a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or notthe events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether theevents and data come from one or several event and data sources. Variousclassification (explicitly and/or implicitly trained) schemes and/orsystems (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems,Bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines . . . ) canbe employed in connection with performing automatic and/or inferredaction in connection with the disclosed subject matter.

A classifier can be a function that maps an input attribute vector,x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, xn), to a confidence that the input belongs to aclass, that is, f(x)=confidence(class). Such classification can employ aprobabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis (e.g., factoring intothe analysis utilities and costs) to prognose or infer an action that auser desires to be automatically performed. A support vector machine(SVM) is an example of a classifier that can be employed. The SVMoperates by finding a hyper-surface in the space of possible inputs,where the hyper-surface attempts to split the triggering criteria fromthe non-triggering events. Intuitively, this makes the classificationcorrect for testing data that is near, but not identical to trainingdata. Other directed and undirected model classification approachesinclude, e.g., naive Bayes, Bayesian networks, decision trees, neuralnetworks, fuzzy logic models, and probabilistic classification modelsproviding different patterns of independence can be employed.Classification as used herein also is inclusive of statisticalregression that is utilized to develop models of priority.

With reference now to FIGS. 5A-C, various design configurations aredepicted. In particular, FIG. 5A illustrates system 500 in which all ora portion of the components described herein can be included in a corenetwork 502 of the wireless communications network. For example, apresence server included in core network 502 can operate as presencecomponent 102, while a suitable reminder application executing on thepresence server can function as reminder component 112.

Referring to FIG. 5B, system 510 is configured such that all or aportion of the components described herein can be included in afemtocell (e.g., femtocell 202) or other network entity 108 associatedwith target location 110. Likewise, FIG. 5C relates to system 520 inwhich all or a portion of the components described herein can beincluded in subservient mobile device 106.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate various methodologies in accordance with thedisclosed subject matter. While, for purposes of simplicity ofexplanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series ofacts, it is to be understood and appreciated that the disclosed subjectmatter is not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown anddescribed herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understandand appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented asa series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram.Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement amethodology in accordance with the disclosed subject matter.Additionally, it should be further appreciated that the methodologiesdisclosed hereinafter and throughout this specification are capable ofbeing stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting andtransferring such methodologies to computers.

Turning now to FIG. 6, exemplary method 600 for creating reminders in awireless communications network based upon device presence informationis depicted. Generally, at reference numeral 602, presence informationbased upon registration to a network entity servicing a target locationby a subservient mobile device can be electronically received. Forexample, when the subservient mobile device registers with the networkentity (e.g., in order to connect to the network via the networkentity), then such registration can constitute presence informationindicative of the fact that the device (and therefore a user thereof) isat or near the target location.

Hence, at reference numeral 604, the presence information can be storedto a computer-readable storage medium such as to a disc or to anysuitable type of memory. Appreciably, the storage can be for a shortduration (e.g., when custodians do not wish the data to be maintained)or for longer-term storage. Regardless, at reference numeral 606, apresence reminder can be generated and propagated to the subservientmobile device if the presence information satisfies a set ofpredetermined criteria, which can be a function of presence alone.

Turning now to FIG. 7, exemplary method 700 for providing additionalfeatures or aspects in connection with creating reminders in a wirelesscommunications network based upon device presence information isillustrated. At reference numeral 702, presence information received atreference numeral 602 of FIG. 6 can be received as a result of thesubservient mobile device registering to a femtocell (e.g., the networkentity in this case) at the target location (e.g., at home).

In contrast, at reference numeral 704, the presence information can bereceived as a result of the subservient mobile device registering to abase station servicing the target location (or with another networkentity), or as a result of the subservient mobile device de-registeringfrom the femtocell at the target location. Appreciably, in this case,the presence information relates to a lack of presence such as when thesubservient device departs from the target location as opposed toarriving at the target location. In either case, the subservient is nolonger registered with the femtocell at the target location, so it canbe presumed presence no longer exists at the target location.

At reference numeral 706, all or a portion of the presence remindergenerated in connection with reference numeral 606 can be received froma custodian device. Thus, at reference numeral 708, the presencereminder (or portion thereof) can be stored to a data store. Hence, momcan determine the contents of the presence reminder as well as theassociated set of criteria in the morning, which can be saved to thedata store and delivered to Ashley upon her arrival at home in theafternoon. In addition, at reference numeral 710, a notification can betransmitted to the custodian device in response to the presencereminder. For instance, the notification can relate to a responseindicating instructions included in the presence reminder have beencompleted. As another example, the notification can be based upon aresponse or contact request included in the presence reminder.Appreciably, at reference numeral 712, short message service (SMS) canbe employed for transmitting the presence reminder, either whenreceiving the presence reminder from a custodian device or whendelivering the presence reminder to the subservient mobile device.However, it should be appreciated that other mechanisms or techniquesare possible for propagating the presence reminder, such as email or thelike.

With reference now FIG. 8, exemplary method 800 for providing additionalfeatures or aspects in connection configuring the set of predeterminedcriteria is depicted. In general, at reference numeral 802, an interfacefor configuring the set of predetermined criteria can be provided. Forexample, the interface can include options for setting various desiredcriteria as well as other related parameters (e.g., to whom to sendreminders).

At reference numeral 804, artificial intelligence techniques can beemployed for inferring the set of predetermined criteria. For example,based upon patterns, history, unusual events or the like. Likewise, atreference numeral 806, artificial intelligence techniques can beemployed for inferring at least a portion of the presence reminderassociated with the inferred set of predetermined criteria. Regardlessof the manner in which the set of predetermined criteria or the textassociated with the presence reminder are created, at reference numeral808, all or a portion of the set of predetermined criteria can beexported to a record associated with a second subservient device, or toa disparate account or provision associated with the wirelesscommunications network. Accordingly, setting up criteria relating to afirst subservient mobile device, satisfaction of which will result intransmission of the presence reminder can be readily exported for usewith other subservient devices associated with the same account or byother account subscribers.

Additionally or alternatively, at reference numeral 810, all or aportion of the set of predetermined criteria can be imported from arecord associated with a second subservient device, or from a disparateaccount or provision associated with the wireless communicationsnetwork. In addition, at reference numeral 812, access to all or aportion of stored presence information can be enabled. For example,presence information stored in connection with reference numeral 606 ofFIG. 6 can be accessed by authorized parties. Such information caninclude data relating to all presence information including that whichdid not satisfy the necessary conditions to be included in the presencereminder. In other words, authorized parties might desire thatsubservient parties be informed via the presence reminder upon certainconditions being satisfied (e.g., the set of predetermined criteria),yet might also desire the ability to browse additional presenceinformation associated with the subservient mobile device(s) as well.

To provide further context for various aspects of the subjectspecification, FIG. 9 illustrates an example wireless communicationenvironment 900, with associated components that can enable operation ofa femtocell enterprise network in accordance with aspects describedherein. Wireless communication environment 900 includes two wirelessnetwork platforms: (i) A macro network platform 910 that serves, orfacilitates communication) with user equipment 975 via a macro radioaccess network (RAN) 970. It should be appreciated that in cellularwireless technologies (e.g., 4G, 3GPP UMTS, HSPA, 3GPP LTE, 3GPP UMB),macro network platform 910 is embodied in a Core Network. (ii) A femtonetwork platform 980, which can provide communication with UE 975through a femto RAN 990, linked to the femto network platform 980through a routing platform 92 via backhaul pipe(s) 985, wherein backhaulpipe(s) are substantially the same a backhaul link 3853 below. It shouldbe appreciated that femto network platform 980 typically offloads UE 975from macro network, once UE 975 attaches (e.g., through macro-to-femtohandover, or via a scan of channel resources in idle mode) to femto RAN.

It is noted that RAN includes base station(s), or access point(s), andits associated electronic circuitry and deployment site(s), in additionto a wireless radio link operated in accordance with the basestation(s). Accordingly, macro RAN 970 can comprise various coveragecells like cell 1205, while femto RAN 990 can comprise multiple femtoaccess points. As mentioned above, it is to be appreciated thatdeployment density in femto RAN 990 is substantially higher than inmacro RAN 970.

Generally, both macro and femto network platforms 910 and 980 includecomponents, e.g., nodes, gateways, interfaces, servers, or platforms,that facilitate both packet-switched (PS) (e.g., internet protocol (IP),frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)) and circuit-switched (CS)traffic (e.g., voice and data) and control generation for networkedwireless communication. In an aspect of the subject innovation, macronetwork platform 910 includes CS gateway node(s) 912 which can interfaceCS traffic received from legacy networks like telephony network(s) 940(e.g., public switched telephone network (PSTN), or public land mobilenetwork (PLMN)) or a SS7 network 960. Circuit switched gateway 912 canauthorize and authenticate traffic (e.g., voice) arising from suchnetworks. Additionally, CS gateway 912 can access mobility, or roaming,data generated through SS7 network 960; for instance, mobility datastored in a VLR, which can reside in memory 930. Moreover, CS gatewaynode(s) 912 interfaces CS-based traffic and signaling and gatewaynode(s) 918. As an example, in a 3GPP UMTS network, gateway node(s) 918can be embodied in gateway GPRS support node(s) (GGSN).

In addition to receiving and processing CS-switched traffic andsignaling, gateway node(s) 918 can authorize and authenticate PS-baseddata sessions with served (e.g., through macro RAN) wireless devices.Data sessions can include traffic exchange with networks external to themacro network platform 910, like wide area network(s) (WANs) 950; itshould be appreciated that local area network(s) (LANs) can also beinterfaced with macro network platform 910 through gateway node(s) 918.Gateway node(s) 918 generates packet data contexts when a data sessionis established. To that end, in an aspect, gateway node(s) 918 caninclude a tunnel interface (e.g., tunnel termination gateway (TTG) in3GPP UMTS network(s); not shown) which can facilitate packetizedcommunication with disparate wireless network(s), such as Wi-Finetworks. It should be further appreciated that the packetizedcommunication can include multiple flows that can be generated throughserver(s) 914. It is to be noted that in 3GPP UMTS network(s), gatewaynode(s) 918 (e.g., GGSN) and tunnel interface (e.g., TTG) comprise apacket data gateway (PDG).

Macro network platform 910 also includes serving node(s) 916 that conveythe various packetized flows of information or data streams, receivedthrough gateway node(s) 918. As an example, in a 3GPP UMTS network,serving node(s) can be embodied in serving GPRS support node(s) (SGSN).

As indicated above, server(s) 914 in macro network platform 910 canexecute numerous applications (e.g., location services, online gaming,wireless banking, wireless device management . . . ) that generatemultiple disparate packetized data streams or flows, and manage (e.g.,schedule, queue, format . . . ) such flows. Such application(s), forexample can include add-on features to standard services provided bymacro network platform 910. Data streams can be conveyed to gatewaynode(s) 918 for authorization/authentication and initiation of a datasession, and to serving node(s) 916 for communication thereafter.Server(s) 914 can also effect security (e.g., implement one or morefirewalls) of macro network platform 910 to ensure network's operationand data integrity in addition to authorization and authenticationprocedures that CS gateway node(s) 912 and gateway node(s) 918 canenact. Moreover, server(s) 914 can provision services from externalnetwork(s), e.g., WAN 950, or Global Positioning System (GPS) network(s)(not shown). It is to be noted that server(s) 914 can include one ormore processor configured to confer at least in part the functionalityof macro network platform 910. To that end, the one or more processorcan execute code instructions stored in memory 930, for example.

In example wireless environment 900, memory 930 stores informationrelated to operation of macro network platform 910. Information caninclude business data associated with subscribers; market plans andstrategies, e.g., promotional campaigns, business partnerships;operational data for mobile devices served through macro networkplatform; service and privacy policies; end-user service logs for lawenforcement; and so forth. Memory 930 can also store information from atleast one of telephony network(s) 940, WAN(s) 950, or SS7 network 960,enterprise NW(s) 965, or service NW(s) 967.

Femto gateway node(s) 984 have substantially the same functionality asPS gateway node(s) 918. Additionally, femto gateway node(s) 984 can alsoinclude substantially all functionality of serving node(s) 916. In anaspect, femto gateway node(s) 984 facilitates handover resolution, e.g.,assessment and execution. Further, control node(s) 920 can receivehandover requests and relay them to a handover component (not shown) viagateway node(s) 984. According to an aspect, control node(s) 920 cansupport RNC capabilities.

Server(s) 982 have substantially the same functionality as described inconnection with server(s) 914. In an aspect, server(s) 982 can executemultiple application(s) that provide service (e.g., voice and data) towireless devices served through femto RAN 990. Server(s) 982 can alsoprovide security features to femto network platform. In addition,server(s) 982 can manage (e.g., schedule, queue, format . . . )substantially all packetized flows (e.g., IP-based, frame relay-based,ATM-based) it generates in addition to data received from macro networkplatform 910. It is to be noted that server(s) 982 can include one ormore processor configured to confer at least in part the functionalityof macro network platform 910. To that end, the one or more processorcan execute code instructions stored in memory 986, for example.

Memory 986 can include information relevant to operation of the variouscomponents of femto network platform 980. For example operationalinformation that can be stored in memory 986 can comprise, but is notlimited to, subscriber information; contracted services; maintenance andservice records; femto cell configuration (e.g., devices served throughfemto RAN 990; access control lists, or white lists); service policiesand specifications; privacy policies; add-on features; and so forth.

It is noted that femto network platform 980 and macro network platform910 can be functionally connected through one or more reference link(s)or reference interface(s). In addition, femto network platform 980 canbe functionally coupled directly (not illustrated) to one or more ofexternal network(s) 940, 950, 960, 965 or 967. Reference link(s) orinterface(s) can functionally link at least one of gateway node(s) 984or server(s) 986 to the one or more external networks 940, 950, 960, 965or 967.

FIG. 10 illustrates a wireless environment that includes macro cells andfemtocells for wireless coverage in accordance with aspects describedherein. In wireless environment 1050, two areas 1005 represent “macro”cell coverage; each macro cell is served by a base station 1010. It canbe appreciated that macro cell coverage area 1005 and base station 1010can include functionality, as more fully described herein, for example,with regard to system 1000. Macro coverage is generally intended toserve mobile wireless devices, like UE 1020 _(A), 1020 _(B), in outdoorslocations. An over-the-air wireless link 105 provides such coverage, thewireless link 1215 comprises a downlink (DL) and an uplink (UL), andutilizes a predetermined band, licensed or unlicensed, of the radiofrequency (RF) spectrum. As an example, UE 1020 _(A), 1020 _(B) can be a3GPP Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) mobile phone. Itis noted that a set of base stations, its associated electronics,circuitry or components, base stations control component(s), andwireless links operated in accordance to respective base stations in theset of base stations form a radio access network (RAN). In addition,base station 1010 communicates via backhaul link(s) 1051 with a macronetwork platform 1060, which in cellular wireless technologies (e.g.,3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Universal MobileTelecommunication System (UMTS), Global System for Mobile Communication(GSM)) represents a core network.

In an aspect, macro network platform 1060 controls a set of basestations 1010 that serve either respective cells or a number of sectorswithin such cells. Base station 1010 comprises radio equipment 1014 foroperation in one or more radio technologies, and a set of antennas 1012(e.g., smart antennas, microwave antennas, satellite dish(es) . . . )that can serve one or more sectors within a macro cell 1005. It is notedthat a set of radio network control node(s), which can be a part ofmacro network platform; a set of base stations (e.g., Node B 1010) thatserve a set of macro cells 1005; electronics, circuitry or componentsassociated with the base stations in the set of base stations; a set ofrespective OTA wireless links (e.g., links 1015 or 1016) operated inaccordance to a radio technology through the base stations; and backhaullink(s) 1055 and 1051 form a macro radio access network (RAN). Macronetwork platform 1060 also communicates with other base stations (notshown) that serve other cells (not shown). Backhaul link(s) 1051 or 1053can include a wired backbone link (e.g., optical fiber backbone,twisted-pair line, T1/E1 phone line, a digital subscriber line (DSL)either synchronous or asynchronous, an asymmetric ADSL, or a coaxialcable . . . ) or a wireless (e.g., line-of-sight (LOS) or non-LOS)backbone link. Backhaul pipe(s) 1055 link disparate base stations 1010.According to an aspect, backhaul link 1053 can connect multiple femtoaccess points 1030 and/or controller components (CC) 1001 to the femtonetwork platform 1002. In one example, multiple femto APs can beconnected to a routing platform (RP) 1087, which in turn can be connectto a controller component (CC) 1001. Typically, the information from UEs1020 _(A) can be routed by the RP 102, for example, internally, toanother UE 1020 _(A) connected to a disparate femto AP connected to theRP 1087, or, externally, to the femto network platform 1002 via the CC1001, as discussed in detail supra.

In wireless environment 1050, within one or more macro cell(s) 1005, aset of femtocells 1045 served by respective femto access points (APs)1030 can be deployed. It can be appreciated that, aspects of the subjectinnovation are geared to femtocell deployments with substantive femto APdensity, e.g., 10⁴-10⁷ femto APs 1030 per base station 1010. Accordingto an aspect, a set of femto access points 1030 ₁-1030 _(N), with N anatural number, can be functionally connected to a routing platform1087, which can be functionally coupled to a controller component 1001.The controller component 1001 can be operationally linked to the femtonetwork platform 330 by employing backhaul link(s) 1053. Accordingly, UE1020 _(A) connected to femto APs 1030 ₁-1030 _(N) can communicateinternally within the femto enterprise via the routing platform (RP)1087 and/or can also communicate with the femto network platform 1002via the RP 1087, controller component 1001 and the backhaul link(s)1053. It can be appreciated that although only one femto enterprise isdepicted in FIG. 10, multiple femto enterprise networks can be deployedwithin a macro cell 1005.

It is noted that while various aspects, features, or advantagesdescribed herein have been illustrated through femto access point(s) andassociated femto coverage, such aspects and features also can beexploited for home access point(s) (HAPs) that provide wireless coveragethrough substantially any, or any, disparate telecommunicationtechnologies, such as for example Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) or picocelltelecommunication. Additionally, aspects, features, or advantages of thesubject innovation can be exploited in substantially any wirelesstelecommunication, or radio, technology; for example, Wi-Fi, WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Enhanced General PacketRadio Service (Enhanced GPRS), 3GPP LTE, 3GPP2 UMB, 3GPP UMTS, HSPA,HSDPA, HSUPA, or LTE Advanced. Moreover, substantially all aspects ofthe subject innovation can include legacy telecommunicationtechnologies.

With respect to FIG. 11, in example embodiment 1100, femtocell AP 1110can receive and transmit signal(s) (e.g., traffic and control signals)from and to wireless devices, access terminals, wireless ports androuters, etc., through a set of antennas 1169 ₁-1169 _(N). It should beappreciated that while antennas 1169 ₁-1169 _(N) are a part ofcommunication platform 1125, which comprises electronic components andassociated circuitry that provides for processing and manipulating ofreceived signal(s) (e.g., a packet flow) and signal(s) (e.g., abroadcast control channel) to be transmitted. In an aspect,communication platform 1125 includes a transmitter/receiver (e.g., atransceiver) 1166 that can convert signal(s) from analog format todigital format upon reception, and from digital format to analog formatupon transmission. In addition, receiver/transmitter 1166 can divide asingle data stream into multiple, parallel data streams, or perform thereciprocal operation. Coupled to transceiver 1166 is amultiplexer/demultiplexer 1167 that facilitates manipulation of signalin time and frequency space. Electronic component 1167 can multiplexinformation (data/traffic and control/signaling) according to variousmultiplexing schemes such as time division multiplexing (TDM), frequencydivision multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), space division multiplexing(SDM). In addition, mux/demux component 1167 can scramble and spreadinformation (e.g., codes) according to substantially any code known inthe art; e.g., Hadamard-Walsh codes, Baker codes, Kasami codes,polyphase codes, and so on. A modulator/demodulator 1168 is also a partof operational group 1125, and can modulate information according tomultiple modulation techniques, such as frequency modulation, amplitudemodulation (e.g., M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with M apositive integer), phase-shift keying (PSK), and the like.

FAP 1110 also includes a processor 1145 configured to conferfunctionality, at least partially, to substantially any electroniccomponent in the femto access point 1110, in accordance with aspects ofthe subject innovation. In particular, processor 1145 can facilitate FAP1110 to implement configuration instructions received throughcommunication platform 1125, which can include storing data in memory1155. In addition, processor 1145 facilitates FAP 1110 to process data(e.g., symbols, bits, or chips) for multiplexing/demultiplexing, such aseffecting direct and inverse fast Fourier transforms, selection ofmodulation rates, selection of data packet formats, inter-packet times,etc. Moreover, processor 1145 can manipulate antennas 1169 ₁-1169 _(N)to facilitate beamforming or selective radiation pattern formation,which can benefit specific locations (e.g., basement, home office . . .) covered by FAP; and exploit substantially any other advantagesassociated with smart-antenna technology. Memory 1155 can store datastructures, code instructions, system or device information like deviceidentification codes (e.g., IMEI, MSISDN, serial number . . . ) andspecification such as multimode capabilities; code sequences forscrambling; spreading and pilot transmission, floor plan configuration,access point deployment and frequency plans; and so on. Moreover, memory1155 can store configuration information such as schedules and policies;FAP address(es) or geographical indicator(s); access lists (e.g., whitelists); license(s) for utilization of add-features for FAP 1110, and soforth.

In embodiment 1100, processor 1145 is coupled to the memory 1155 inorder to store and retrieve information necessary to operate and/orconfer functionality to communication platform 1125, broadband networkinterface 1135 (e.g., a broadband modem), and other operationalcomponents (e.g., multimode chipset(s), power supply sources . . . ; notshown) that support femto access point 1110. In addition, it is to benoted that the various aspects disclosed in the subject specificationcan also be implemented through (i) program modules stored in acomputer-readable storage medium or memory (e.g., memory 1086 or memory1155) and executed by a processor (e.g., processor 1145), or (ii) othercombination(s) of hardware and software, or hardware and firmware.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is illustrated a block diagram of anexemplary computer system operable to execute the disclosedarchitecture. In order to provide additional context for various aspectsof the disclosed subject matter, FIG. 12 and the following discussionare intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitablecomputing environment 1200 in which the various aspects of the disclosedsubject matter can be implemented. Additionally, while the disclosedsubject matter described above may be suitable for application in thegeneral context of computer-executable instructions that may run on oneor more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that thedisclosed subject matter also can be implemented in combination withother program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the inventive methods can be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor computersystems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personalcomputers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which can beoperatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

The illustrated aspects of the disclosed subject matter may also bepracticed in distributed computing environments where certain tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

A computer typically includes a variety of computer-readable media.Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby the computer and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media can comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media can include eithervolatile or nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implementedin any method or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by the computer.

Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated datasignal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includesany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the anyof the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

With reference again to FIG. 12, the exemplary environment 1200 forimplementing various aspects of the disclosed subject matter includes acomputer 1202, the computer 1202 including a processing unit 1204, asystem memory 1206 and a system bus 1208. The system bus 1208 couples tosystem components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1206to the processing unit 1204. The processing unit 1204 can be any ofvarious commercially available processors. Dual microprocessors andother multi-processor architectures may also be employed as theprocessing unit 1204.

The system bus 1208 can be any of several types of bus structure thatmay further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memorycontroller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety ofcommercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1206includes read-only memory (ROM) 1210 and random access memory (RAM)1212. A basic input/output system (BIOS) is stored in a non-volatilememory 1210 such as ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, which BIOS contains the basicroutines that help to transfer information between elements within thecomputer 1202, such as during start-up. The RAM 1212 can also include ahigh-speed RAM such as static RAM for caching data.

The computer 1202 further includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD)1214 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), which internal hard disk drive 1214 may also beconfigured for external use in a suitable chassis (not shown), amagnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1216, (e.g., to read from or write to aremovable diskette 1218) and an optical disk drive 1220, (e.g., readinga CD-ROM disk 1222 or, to read from or write to other high capacityoptical media such as the DVD). The hard disk drive 1214, magnetic diskdrive 1216 and optical disk drive 1220 can be connected to the systembus 1208 by a hard disk drive interface 1224, a magnetic disk driveinterface 1226 and an optical drive interface 1228, respectively. Theinterface 1224 for external drive implementations includes at least oneor both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE1394 interfacetechnologies. Other external drive connection technologies are withincontemplation of the subject matter disclosed herein.

The drives and their associated computer-readable media providenonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executableinstructions, and so forth. For the computer 1202, the drives and mediaaccommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format.Although the description of computer-readable media above refers to aHDD, a removable magnetic diskette, and a removable optical media suchas a CD or DVD, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat other types of media which are readable by a computer, such as zipdrives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, cartridges, and thelike, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment, andfurther, that any such media may contain computer-executableinstructions for performing the methods of the disclosed subject matter.

A number of program modules can be stored in the drives and RAM 1212,including an operating system 1230, one or more application programs1232, other program modules 1234 and program data 1236. All or portionsof the operating system, applications, modules, and/or data can also becached in the RAM 1212. It is appreciated that the disclosed subjectmatter can be implemented with various commercially available operatingsystems or combinations of operating systems.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 1202 throughone or more wired/wireless input devices, e.g., a keyboard 1238 and apointing device, such as a mouse 1240. Other input devices (not shown)may include a microphone, an IR remote control, a joystick, a game pad,a stylus pen, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devicesare often connected to the processing unit 1204 through an input deviceinterface 1242 that is coupled to the system bus 1208, but can beconnected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, an IEEE1394serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, etc.

A monitor 1244 or other type of display device is also connected to thesystem bus 1208 via an interface, such as a video adapter 1246. Inaddition to the monitor 1244, a computer typically includes otherperipheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc.

The computer 1202 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections via wired and/or wireless communications to one or moreremote computers, such as a remote computer(s) 1248. The remotecomputer(s) 1248 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, apersonal computer, a mobile device, portable computer,microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or othercommon network node, and typically includes many or all of the elementsdescribed relative to the computer 1202, although, for purposes ofbrevity, only a memory/storage device 1250 is illustrated. The logicalconnections depicted include wired/wireless connectivity to a local areanetwork (LAN) 1252 and/or larger networks, e.g., a wide area network(WAN) 1254. Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace inoffices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks,such as intranets, all of which may connect to a global communicationsnetwork, e.g., the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1202 isconnected to the local network 1252 through a wired and/or wirelesscommunication network interface or adapter 1256. The adapter 1256 mayfacilitate wired or wireless communication to the LAN 1252, which mayalso include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicatingwith the wireless adapter 1256.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1202 can includea modem 1258, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN1254, or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN1254, such as by way of the Internet. The modem 1258, which can beinternal or external and a wired or wireless device, is connected to thesystem bus 1208 via the serial port interface 1242. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 1202, orportions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device1250. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areexemplary and other means of establishing a communications link betweenthe computers can be used.

The computer 1202 is operable to communicate with any wireless devicesor entities operatively disposed in wireless communication, e.g., aprinter, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, portable dataassistant, communications satellite, any piece of equipment or locationassociated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand,restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi and Bluetooth™wireless technologies. Thus, the communication can be a predefinedstructure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoccommunication between at least two devices.

Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, allows connection to the Internet from acouch at home, a bed in a hotel room, or a conference room at work,without wires. Wi-Fi is a wireless technology similar to that used in acell phone that enables such devices, e.g., computers, to send andreceive data indoors and out; anywhere within the range of a basestation. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE802.11 (a, b,g, n, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. AWi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to theInternet, and to wired networks (which use IEEE802.3 or Ethernet). Wi-Finetworks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, at an 12Mbps (802.11b) or 54 Mbps (802.11a) data rate, for example, or withproducts that contain both bands (dual band), so the networks canprovide real-world performance similar to the basic “10 BaseT” wiredEthernet networks used in many offices.

What has been described above includes examples of the variousembodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes ofdescribing the embodiments, but one of ordinary skill in the art mayrecognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible.Accordingly, the detailed description is intended to embrace all suchalterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spiritand scope of the appended claims.

As it employed in the subject specification, the term “processor” canrefer to substantially any computing processing unit or devicecomprising, but not limited to comprising, single-core processors;single-processors with software multithread execution capability;multi-core processors; multi-core processors with software multithreadexecution capability; multi-core processors with hardware multithreadtechnology; parallel platforms; and parallel platforms with distributedshared memory. Additionally, a processor can refer to an integratedcircuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), aprogrammable logic controller (PLC), a complex programmable logic device(CPLD), a discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. Processors can exploit nano-scale architectures suchas, but not limited to, molecular and quantum-dot based transistors,switches and gates, in order to optimize space usage or enhanceperformance of user equipment. A processor also can be implemented as acombination of computing processing units.

In the subject specification, terms such as “store,” “data store,” “datastorage,” “database,” “repository,” and substantially any otherinformation storage component relevant to operation and functionality ofa component, refer to “memory components,” or entities embodied in a“memory” or components comprising the memory. It will be appreciatedthat the memory components described herein can be either volatilememory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile andnonvolatile memory. In addition, memory components or memory elementscan be removable or stationary. Moreover, memory can be internal orexternal to a device or component, or removable or stationary. Memorycan include various types of media that are readable by a computer, suchas hard-disc drives, zip drives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cardsor other types of memory cards, cartridges, or the like.

By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory caninclude read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electricallyprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flashmemory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM), whichacts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and notlimitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), anddirect Rambus RAM (DRRAM). Additionally, the disclosed memory componentsof systems or methods herein are intended to comprise, without beinglimited to comprising, these and any other suitable types of memory.

In particular and in regard to the various functions performed by theabove described components, devices, circuits, systems and the like, theterms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe suchcomponents are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, toany component which performs the specified function of the describedcomponent (e.g., a functional equivalent), even though not structurallyequivalent to the disclosed structure, which performs the function inthe herein illustrated exemplary aspects of the embodiments. In thisregard, it will also be recognized that the embodiments includes asystem as well as a computer-readable medium having computer-executableinstructions for performing the acts and/or events of the variousmethods.

In addition, while a particular feature may have been disclosed withrespect to only one of several implementations, such feature may becombined with one or more other features of the other implementations asmay be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes” and “including” andvariants thereof are used in either the detailed description or theclaims, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar tothe term “comprising.”

1. A system that facilitates reminders based upon device presencetechniques in connection with a wireless communications network,comprising: a presence component configured to receive and storepresence information characterized by network registration of asubservient mobile device to a network entity that services a targetlocation; and a reminder component in a computer-readable storage mediumconfigured to facilitate transmission of a reminder to the subservientmobile device if the presence information satisfies a set ofpredetermined conditions.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the presenceinformation does not include global positioning satellite (GPS) data. 3.The system of claim 1, wherein the network entity is a femtocell.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the network entity is a macro cell or a basestation included therein.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the remindercomponent is further configured to receive at least a portion of thereminder from a custodian device.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein thereminder component is further configured to store the at least a portionof the reminder to a data store and to retrieve the at least a portionof the reminder in the event the set of predetermined conditions isdetermined to be satisfied.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thereminder is transmitted by way of short message service (SMS).
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the reminder component is further configuredto facilitate transmission of the reminder to the subservient mobiledevice upon arrival of the subservient mobile device at the targetlocation as determined by network registration of the subservient mobiledevice to a femtocell servicing the target location.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the reminder component is further configured tofacilitate transmission of the reminder to the subservient mobile deviceupon departure of the subservient mobile device from the target locationas determined by at least one of (1) network registration of thesubservient mobile device to a macro cell or base station or (2) networkde-registration of the subservient mobile device from a femtocellservicing the target location.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein theset of predetermined conditions relate to at least one of presence orabsence of the subservient mobile device at the target location;presence or absence of the subservient mobile device at the targetlocation that occurs (1) at a certain time, (2) during a certain periodof time, or (3) in connection with a state of the target location;departure or lack of departure of the subservient mobile device from thetarget location; or departure or lack of departure of the subservientmobile device from the target location that occurs (4) at a certaintime, (5) within a certain period of time, or (6) in connection with astate of the target location.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the setof predetermined conditions is configurable based upon input from atleast one of a user or an authorized user of the at least one mobiledevice, a user or an authorized user of the subservient mobile device, asubscriber to femtocell service at the target location, or an agent ofthe wireless communications network.
 12. The system of claim 1, whereinthe reminder component is further configured in accordance with at leastone of the following: to export or import all or a portion of the set ofcondition to or from a record associated with a second subservientdevice, or to or from a disparate account or wireless communicationsservice provision; or to facilitate download of all or a portion ofstored presence information.
 13. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising an intelligence component configured to intelligentlydetermine or infer at least one predetermined condition included in theset of predetermined conditions or at least a portion of the reminder.14. The system of claim 1, wherein all or a portion thereof is includedin or operatively coupled to a core network of the wirelesscommunication network.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein all or aportion thereof is included in or operatively coupled to a femtocellassociated with the target location.
 16. A method for creating remindersin a wireless communications network based upon device presenceinformation, comprising: electronically receiving presence informationbased upon registration to a network entity servicing a target locationby a subservient mobile device; storing the presence information to acomputer-readable storage medium; and generating a presence reminder forthe subservient mobile device if the presence information satisfies aset of predetermined criteria.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising at least one of the following: receiving presence informationas a result of the subservient mobile device registering to a femtocellat the target location; receiving presence information as a result ofthe subservient mobile device registering to a base station at thetarget location, or as a result of the subservient mobile devicede-registering from the femtocell at the target location; receiving atleast a portion of the presence reminder from a custodian device;storing the at least a portion of the presence reminder; transmitting anotification to the custodian device in response to the presencereminder; or employing short message service (SMS) for transmitting thepresence reminder.
 18. The method of claim 16, further comprising atleast one of the following: providing an interface for configuring theset of predetermined criteria; employing artificial intelligencetechniques for inferring the set of predetermined criteria; employingartificial intelligence techniques for inferring at least a portion ofthe presence reminder associated with the set of predetermined criteria;exporting all or a portion of the set of predetermined criteria to arecord associated with a second subservient device, or to a disparateaccount or provision associated with the wireless communicationsnetwork; importing all or a portion of the set of predetermined criteriafrom a record associated with a second subservient device, or from adisparate account or provision associated with the wirelesscommunications network; or enabling access to all or a portion of storedpresence information.
 19. A system for creating reminders in a wirelesscommunications network based upon device presence data, comprising:means for receiving presence information characterized by registrationto a network entity servicing a target location by a subservient mobiledevice; means for storing the presence information to acomputer-readable storage medium; and means for propagating a presencereminder to the subservient mobile device in the event the presenceinformation satisfies at least one predetermined criterion.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, further comprising at least one of the following:means for configuring the at least one predetermined criterion; meansfor exporting all or a portion of the at least one predeterminedcriterion to a disparate account or provision associated with thewireless communications network; means for importing all or a portion ofthe at least one predetermined criterion from a disparate account orprovision associated with the wireless communications network; or meansfor accessing all or a portion of stored presence information.